People who know how to count, are not ideologues and who understand that compromise is not only a political reality but a positive step in seeking pragmatic solutions.

The only way I can see changing the industries standard without excessive government regulation is for the American consumer to throw their weight around and only use companies who display best practices. That would be a worthy goal for the OWS movement.

Annnnd.. Bullshit. Calling that one. There has been a diminishing amount of regulation and enforcement in the meatpacking industry in the last 40 years. It went from being an industry that you could make money on and be reasonably healthy about to an industry rife with problems. The Mad Cow outbreak came from practices that were put in place in the last half century. In the US, if I was a terrorist wanting to put a REAL hurting on the country, there are about a dozen processing plants that over 80% of the meat in this country go through. The 'open market' you say works better WITHOUT regulation has provided us with what.. a dozen major outbreaks in the last ten years?

And then there is the organic movement, who are CONSTANTLY under fire for one reason or another by the big meat producers. The push to inject hormones into animals, grow them in ways to maximize the amount of weight in the least amount of time. Regardless of if it is GOOD meat that comes out of the process. We let the food industry here set the rules, despite constant evidence to the contrary that their 'self interest' won't over rule their regard for the public. Hell, they don't like the idea 'organic' and 'BGH-Free' labels on food. You speak out against them, regardless of the truth of your statements, and they pull you into the courts and hammer you flat.

I disagree with that statement. Our primary and secondary education system are terrible, but our universities are world class.

And pray tell, when our domestic students can't qualify for those colleges and universities because they don't have the basic skills to learn from them? You can't say 'College/Universities are top tier' when you don't prepare your own domestic pool of students to do the basic essential skills. We don't teach them anymore..we teach the god-damn standardized tests. I'm the product of self-education in a lot of ways. I have seen a decreasing skill base and how it effects the airmen that came to work for me. I was a bit older than most of my fellow students when I went in, and had learned a lot of things on my own.

By the time I was medically retired fifteen years later, the knowledge base of the airmen coming out the 'revised' schools weren't as flexible. They had to learn more and more on the ground from me and the older workers to get up to speed as essential elements had been pruned from the circulumn. Hell, entire sections of the advancement test were not taught in the rate training school and we had to site down with the NEETS manuals to train our airmen just so they could advance. When I went through A-school, I was given the equivalent of an AS in electronics (minus about 20 hours of credits) in a 8 month period. Now the students are sent through in half the time with less coverage in theory and the foundations.

There isn't gonna be a revolution or anything like that. If we wanna change things we vote dumb fucks out of office and if we want to change the model of business we have to find ways to make the way they conduct business unprofitable.

You know what I learned from my brother running for office? Why the fuck would anyone with two licks of sense run for office? He was pushed for YEARS by the GOP back home to run for office.. and when he did, because it wasn't some little office that had little effect, the same folks who pushed him for so long attacked him. He is a trial lawyer, who do you think he supports in his donations? The judges he knows how to play and has a good foundation with or some unknown? Yet that earned him a 'carpet bagger' name.. despite the fact that he grew up in the state. He pushed forward a measure that saved MILLIONS for the state residents, despite a lack of response on either party, and who claimed the credit? The Johnny-come lately 'friend' who told him he wsn't going to run for the office? I read the statements on my brother's site an the guy who got the party nomination. The word Plagarism comes to mind. It wasn't LIKE his statement of intent to run.. it WAS his statement in several areas literally.

Add in the media. Have you done something stupid as a kid? Are you the same person you were half a life time ago? Do you have different outlooks? Does your significant other have problems? Does your brother(s) do something that isn't in line with your stated views? Did you do somethign then that could spun into something else now?

No wonder 'smart men' like Colin Powell, who I think would be an EXCELLENT president, won't run. His wife has some serious issues.. she'd never handle the loving scrutiny of the media. Everyone has feet of clay, you all have THAT day where you said the 'N-word' or did something in anger. Or god forbid you're White and Southern and have friend in middle/high school that you've not seen in 30 years and is a career racist/meth dealer.

The media brought down a president.. and were denied the impeachment. And have been trying ever since to get another ever since. One of my comments that gets a lot of my airmen thinking was.. that there has been no president since Kennedy was shot who met the measure of the media..and since Nixon there has always been a '-gate' thing that the other side saw as a need to impeach. Funnily enough, from what my mother told me had JFK run for office the day before he went into Daley Plaza the odds were against him getting reelected. He had, through his brother Bobby, alienated LBJ and that could have easily cost him a LOT of the South.

And yet, unchecked free and UNREGULATED markets are what you seem to want. Right now without any outside oversight. It doesn't work now.. why would LESS rules make things more fair? We need to increase the power of the EPA and FDA to push back abuses we have now. You know why we have spills and tainted food? Cost Benefit ratios.. is the fine going to be less than paying to put in better measures? Can the company spend less money to get special lobbyists to impede/delay investigations till the outcry can be managed. Can the company's legal team delay things till the suing groups run out of money?

We need fair and SAFE markets. We don't have either. It comes down to the folks on top having the money to buy influence.

"In order to achieve the wildest possible distribution of political power, financial contributions to political campaigns should be made by individuals and individuals alone. I see no reason for labor unions--or corporations-- to participate in politics. Both were created for economic purposes and their activities should be restricted accordingly."-Barry Goldwater, Conscience of a Conservative.

Barry Goldwater said that.. in 1960! He summed up the best way to ensure that the government regulates properly. Take the influence out of the mix. I don't agree with everything he says.. but then you rarely parallel everything anyone else says.

We have too many influence makers, too many authoritative personalities in political leadership roles (they make good military leaders..but not political leaders), way too much 'buying' of leadership.

You want an example of how this mass of cronyism is impeding things? I can tell your right NOW how to fix a HUGE chunk of the post offices federal government over runs that they have to 'eat' every damn day.

Free postage. Make each department, division, and politician pay their own DAMN postage. It won't fix the problem... but it will show where a LOT of the cost issues come from. Let the postmaster general consult with lean management types to streamline the delivery process and thin out some of the congestion of the system. We're operating the same ..the VERY same system that was in place during the Eisenhower administration for the most part.

Wealth redistribution is not and never will be the answer. America is not a pseudo-socialist European country with rationed healthcare and 50% tax rates. None of those countries are producers, none of those countries are inventors. None of those countries are exceptional the same way that America is exceptional.

Nonsense. Sorry, but what you said is flat-out untrue. And, by the way, America once had progressive income tax rates well over 50%. Look it up. And somehow we managed to be the world's largest economy, the world's biggest creditor, all while defending half the planet against a superpower.

And the whole "Europe as poor socialists" thing is utterly unsupported by the facts.

Life expectancy (by the way, America is #38):

Human development index:

Infant mortality rate:

Homicide rate:

America, land of the free?

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and we are not going to destabilize. We are the richest country in the fuckin world.

The problem with the Occupy kids is that they lack perspective. They don't understand the difference between poverty and not poverty. They think they are poor if they can't buy a latte in Starbucks and they think they are hungry if their stomachs are growling.

In other points.. I've been reading up. Ron Paul, while still WWWWAAAAYYY behind in delegate count has been winning states..not just delegates. Granted states like Maine aren't huge powerhouses of delegates but it's interesting to watch how the system is being gamed in other states (like Nevada) where there is a 'they said/we said' contest for the delegates going on. Ron Paul was pushed out by what was called technicalities in 2008 and took it this time.. but the Romney campaign is contesting the votes.

I find it depressing that we are seeing more and more candidates, of both parties but more GOP than Dem, outright REFUSING to compromise if elected. Oh yeah, the last ten years of partisan nastiness is only going to grow if these tools get elected.

Fox's incessant parroting of 'failed economic policies' combined with the House's stubborn blocking of every single move the President makes has completely turned me away from the Republican party. I used to consider myself an Independent and even defended W on multiple occasions. In my eyes, they have proven themselves to be the party of 'No'. I believe the Tea Party to be the party of 'Hell No!'.

Fox's incessant parroting of 'failed economic policies' combined with the House's stubborn blocking of every single move the President makes has completely turned me away from the Republican party. I used to consider myself an Independent and even defended W on multiple occasions. In my eyes, they have proven themselves to be the party of 'No'. I believe the Tea Party to be the party of 'Hell No!'.

The thing is (to me) is the polcies failed because the GOP did everything they could to obstruct the president. I can't think of a single major policy decision they haven't outright stalled since they got control of the houses of Congress. I think for them to claim the president failed should include the disclaimer 'because we don't understand the words compromise or cooperative effort'.

The thing is (to me) is the polcies failed because the GOP did everything they could to obstruct the president. I can't think of a single major policy decision they haven't outright stalled since they got control of the houses of Congress. I think for them to claim the president failed should include the disclaimer 'because we don't understand the words compromise or cooperative effort'.